


For Want of a Storm

by the_biggest_nerd



Category: One Piece
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-01-28
Packaged: 2018-09-20 10:23:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9487094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_biggest_nerd/pseuds/the_biggest_nerd
Summary: For want of a storm, a ship was sunk. For want of a ship, a sacrifice was made. For want of a sacrifice, a different story was told.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea for a few years now, but it's only now that I have enough confidence to try writing it out. Tags will be added as the story goes on, but I feel like the prologue makes it pretty obvious what direction this is headed in.

The attack was over in seconds.

Alvida had completely obliterated the precious dinghy Coby had painstakingly built from scratch in a fit of rage, and he, a simple cabin boy who wanted nothing more than to avoid getting maced, just couldn’t help but make it a thousand times worse.

_“A-Alvida is_ _…_ _Alvida_ _…_ _She’s_ _…_ _”_

_“_ _…_ _THE UGLIEST DAMN BITCH!”_

And to think, he had been so careful before.

Apologizing if Alvida so much as stared in his direction, bowing his head whenever the pirate passed by, even taking the initiative to swab the boat front to back five times in the row until the mace-wielding captain was satisfied. He would’ve humiliated himself a thousand times over if it meant keeping himself alive.

Yet here he was, throwing his life away on a stupid, momentary whim.  

_I don’t mind dying for my dreams._

…well, he supposed it wasn’t all that stupid.

What was the point of having a dream if you weren’t willing to give everything up for it?

That was what a certain straw-hatted pirate had told him as he shoved the doomed cabin boy away from the descending iron mace, flashing the same fearless grin Coby envied as he faced the massive weapon head-on.

He expected the familiar sound of bones breaking under Alvida’s deadly swing, but a far more different noise rung out as the mace made contact with the man’s head.

_Boing._

Coby blinked once. Alvida blinked twice. Her cronies didn’t blink at all.

“It’s useless against me,” the supposed victim breathed, head steadily stretching downwards as the mace pressed against the unhuman-like skin,

“BECAUSE I’M RUBBER!”

And just like that, the mace sprung back. Alvida gawked, stepping back in utter shock as her target suddenly launched his arms backwards, reaching an impressive length as he stared back at his mystified attacker.

_“Gum-Gum…”_

The Alvida pirates all but screamed while their former cabin boy looked on in awe. He realized right then and then he no longer needed to fear Alvida’s unpredictable bouts of rage, the constant harassment of the other pirates, _the endless bathroom cleaning…_

Coby was truly free.

_“PISTOL!”_

Even as the unmistakable sound of a jaw breaking echoed throughout the forest, the spectacled boy grinned, blobs of happy tears beginning to roll down his cheeks. His newfound friend huffed, watching the defeated woman fall hard onto the forest floor as his own arms slapped back into place. He gestured at the pirates watching on in horror.

“Prepare a boat for Coby! He wants to join the Marines, so stay outta his way!”

It was then that Coby began to cry, despite himself. The man in front of him was everything he aspired to be – everything he _could_ be if he truly wanted to. Becoming the Marine of his dreams was no longer an unattainable pipe dream.

“Luffy…”

He smiled, knowing right then and there that the rubber man was going to achieve everything he wanted, and then some.

“Thank you.”

* * *

“It seems as though the pieces have finally been set in motion.”

Face impassive as he observed the arrangement of tarot cards scattered across the table’s wooden surface, the blonde let out a despondent sigh of annoyance.

He supposed it could be considered a blessing that things would finally start to move along in accordance to fate, but with the sense of complacency that fell upon him during his last reading, he found it hard to care.

There was no use fighting destiny.

The cards had already been set long ago, and all he could do was read them.

“Sweetheart, you still in there?”

Glancing towards the counter, the man acknowledged the woman frowning back at him with a small nod. She smiled a little at the wordless response.

“It’s about time for Helmeppo’s usual parading, and I don’t want him coming in here and executing one of my best waiters.”

Despite the joking tone, her expression held a hint of anxiousness. She wasn’t really kidding, after all.

Not wanting to overcomplicate things, the blonde dipped his head in understanding. Gathering the cards as he stood up, the woman watched with a small sense of fondness as her employee carefully wiped off the table he had just been using.

As she hurried the blonde outside, eyeing the familiar marine entourage approaching from a distance, she muttered, “With that way that Helmeppo carries himself, you’d be hard-pressed not to mistake him as a noble.”

The blonde twitched, hand instinctively reaching out to scratch at his back.

“Hm.”

* * *

“Captain Buggy’s gonna have a field day when he takes a gander at our haul!”

Cackling as he ran his fingers through the gold coins piled inside the treasure, the toque-wearing pirate held up a particularly sparkly-looking set of pearl necklaces to the morning sun. “Who would have thought that such a small ship could carry so much loot?”

Balancing a gold crown on his oversized hair, the man with disproportionally large earrings rubbed his hands together in gleeful anticipation. “Maybe Captain Buggy’ll reward us! Move over Mohji and Cabaji, us three will be in the boss’s favor now!”

The trio laughed boisterously, stopping only when the bearded of the three point out the small ship bobbing only a small distance away. Encouraged by the thought of even more treasure, the pirates hungrily paddled over without a care in the world.

Upon reaching the boat, the men quickly realized it was abandoned with nothing but a large treasure chest, practically _begging_ to be opened and stolen from. Seeing no reason to resist the allure of riches, all three men climbed aboard the small dinghy.

As the boat shifted under their weight, a steady stream of bubbles rose from the waves behind them.

In just thirty seconds, the three men were gone from the dinghy, replaced by a masked man lazily wiping the bloodied blades connected to his wrist with a whistle. A new treasure chest brimming with bright jewelry and gold coins sat beside him.

Humming, he brought up the reflective metal to his face, taking in the striped cyan mask staring back at him.

Soon.

* * *

 “Damn it, where the hell’s the waitress?!”

Slamming down a loaded wok in frustration, the chef all but lost it as he threw down his hat. “This is the third time a damn customer followed up on an order! Where the hell are all the meals going?! I can’t prepare the same goddamn fillet mignon five times in a row!”

“You think you have problems, pal?!” Another chef dumped a stack of plates into the washer, unaffected by the shattering that promptly followed. “I finish cooking up a five-course meal, but the second my back’s turned, _poof!_ It disappears!”

“Yeah? Try losing all your ingredients before you even start trying to make the damn dish!”

“How about finding out you’ve been cooking the wrong slop because of crap handwriting?!”

“Losing half the broth of my goddamn soup every time I turn around?!”

“Finding half-eaten chicken legs where our damn daily special’s supposed to be?!”

“Oh, those?”

All conversation stopped as the chefs instantly turned their attention to the revolving doors leading to the dining hall. Noisily chewing on what used to be glazed ribs, the pink-haired waitress in question shrugged at the dark looks being sent her way.

“I ate them. Sorry ‘bout that.”

The customers inside the dining hall quietly snickered in amusement as the kitchen exploded into a chorus of angry screams and hollers.

Just another day in the Baratie.

* * *

He wasn’t lost, he was just searching for a worthy opponent.

That was what a certain green-haired swordsman told himself as he strolled along the foggy streets of a certain town, free hand clasped around a sword’s hilt as he eyed the townspeople happily going about their day around him.

It had been a boring week so far. He wandered around aimlessly from his village (not lost, of course) and ended up on a boat to a small island village, (which he inadvertently ended up saving after cutting down a certain black-haired butler in a spontaneous fit of bloodlust) then got on another boat that wrecked itself on another island full of strange creatures, (he helped one in particular reach the treasure it had apparently been protecting for years, only to find the chests empty in a scene that still made the swordsman wince) before finally making it to the town he currently found himself.

He was originally planning on staying for just a day or so, but after he heard of a shop offering a cursed sword, he promptly made up his mind to spend the last of the money he made during his bout as a bounty hunter to purchase this apparently deadly sword.

Unfortunately however, he had very little luck finding said shop, despite his lengthy stay of a month in the town.

Not that it mattered. He was going to find this elusive shop soon. He could just feel it.

Nodding to himself as he passed by a red-nosed man polishing a sword just outside his shop with a massive red sign reading “SWORDS FOR SALE”, the (not lost) swordsman grinned to himself.

He was definitely on the right track.

**Author's Note:**

> So here's some semi-important preliminary notes about what to expect:
> 
> 1\. There is a big chance I may not be able to continue the series. I'm very easily sidetracked, unfortunately. This isn't the first multi-chapter story I've published, but this will hopefully be last time I abandon a project halfway through. Just try not to get your hopes up with multiple quick updates. I have no sense of scheduling.
> 
> 2\. Expect to see a lot of LGBT characters. Seeing as I'm a member of the community myself, I have no time for bigots.
> 
> So that's the gist of it. I promise I'll put a 110% in this project, but we'll just have to wait and see.


End file.
